How many times have you set a goal for yourself or for your family, only to look back 1 week or 1 month later and realize you never really did anything to reach that goal?
You had good intentions, but those good intentions never came to fruition.
I read an article the other day that said that many people drop their New Year’s Resolutions before the month of January even ends! Most of us don’t even make it a month before we give up!
The more I’ve thought about this, the more I’ve realized that the problem isn’t lack of motivation. Most of us really do want to change. The problem is lack of follow through. We set goals but then don’t have the skills necessary to follow through with them.
So I wanted to share a few tips to help you actually reach the goals you set. These tips will help with the follow-through side of goal-setting.
Top Tips to Help You Actually Reach the Goals You Set:
- Make sure the goals you set are SPECIFIC and ATTAINABLE.
What that means is that you can’t set a goal like, “I want to feed my family healthier foods.” That’s too generic. Instead, a better goal would be, “I want to stop buying pop for my family to drink.” Or, “I want to cook 2 different vegetables each night with dinner this week.” These goals are both very specific.
Make sure as you set your goal that they’re actually within your reach too. Don’t set them too high (you’ll never reach them) or too low (they won’t even be a challenge). Try to find that sweet spot: a goal that you will have to work to reach but won’t be so hard you’ll give up. - Track your progress.
In the midst of day-to-day life, it’s sometimes hard to see how far you’ve come. You might not even realize you’ve made any progress if you’re not tracking it to see.
I did this with my son and his behavior. I set goals for him to decrease his number of meltdowns but then, because I wasn’t tracking his progress, I didn’t think he was making any.
His meltdowns were becoming fewer and farther in between, but I didn’t realize this until I started actually tracking it. - Remember your why!
When the going gets tough, the best thing you can do to keep moving forward is to remember your why. Remember why you set the goal in the first place.
What are you working toward? What will your life look like when you finally reach your goal? How will your life change for the better?
When I first started on this journey of healing my son’s body, brain and gut, my why was a simple dinner. I wanted to be able to go out to dinner with my two children and my husband and have a normal conversation. I wanted to be able to sit down for a meal without devices and actually enjoy dinner.
Anytime things got tough, I reminded myself of that goal and thought about how nice it would be when we finally reached it!
Remember why you’re doing what you’re doing, and that will help you keep pushing! - Get accountability.
There is power in telling someone else about your goal! It will give you extra motivation to follow through because you know they might be asking you about it.
I do this in my program, The ADHD Thrive Method 4 Kids, and I’ve found that it really helps people follow through with their goals. When people know someone is going to be asking them if they’ve done something, they’re much more likely to get moving! - Don’t let one step back stop you.
Remember, if you go two steps forward and one step back, you are still farther forward today than you were yesterday.
Don’t allow one failure to get you to quit. Keep going! You’ve got this!
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And as always, I am not a medical doctor and the above post is based on my experience. No information on this site should be relied upon to make a medical diagnosis, treat, prevent or cure any disease or medical condition.
